India Ahoy

Building a navy to cement alliances and—perhaps more important—try to manage China's rise.

By

Rory Medcalf

Updated April 29, 2010 1:35 a.m. ET

In recent weeks, Chinese destroyers and submarines have appeared in force in waters near Japan, their helicopters twice buzzing Japanese vessels at reckless proximity. With such provocations, China is shunning calls for cooperation at sea, flagging a determination to go it alone in the way it uses its rapidly growing naval prowess.

The question then becomes, what, if anything, is anyone going to do about it? Japan would seem to be a logical counterweight to China's rising naval power. Yet Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is...